MUNICH — Hyundai is contemplating whether or not to broaden its full-electric Ioniq sub-brand to smaller automobiles based mostly on the E-GMP platform, together with a successor to the Kona small SUV, the model’s advertising and marketing chief stated.

“It could make sense to increase all the advantages related to the E-GMP platform to smaller automobiles,” Thomas Schemera, international head of selling at Hyundai, informed Automotive Information Europe on the Munich auto present. These advantages embrace each lengthy vary and connectivity options comparable to over-the-air software program updates.

“I’d vote for such a mission,” Schemera stated.

The Ioniq 5 compact crossover is the primary mannequin within the Ioniq lineup based mostly on the E-GMP platform. Hyundai acquired “greater than 40,000 orders” for it up to now in Europe, in keeping with Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, head of selling at Hyundai Motor Europe. Hofmann stated European clients “would get round half of that determine this yr, due to the chip scarcity subject.”

The Ioniq 5 can be adopted by the Ioniq 6, a midsize sedan to be launched in late 2022 or early 2023, relying on how the semiconductor scarcity performs out, stated Hofmann.

The Ioniq 7, a midsize SUV, is because of be launched in 2024.

Requested whether or not a successor to the Kona Electrical may bear the Ioniq 2, 3 or 4 nameplate, Schemera stated: “That is one thing I do not need to verify, however it appears to be probably.”

Schemera stated the present Kona Electrical, which shares underpinnings with inside combustion engine variations, “is a improbable automobile.” It was the fifth hottest EV in Europe by within the first half of 2021 with 21,802 gross sales, up 95 % from the primary half of 2020, in keeping with figures from JATO Dynamics.

One other Hyundai group car, the Kia e-Niro, was in sixth place, with 20,804 gross sales within the first half.

Hofmann stated the beginning of Kona Electrical manufacturing on the model’s manufacturing unit within the Czech Republic within the first half of 2020 had helped to satisfy demand.

Schemera stated the primary problem for a small automobile on the E-GMP platform was not engineering however creating sufficient quantity and economies of scale to satisfy revenue targets with expensive-to-produce EVs. If that may be achieved, he stated, it doesn’t make sense to develop new internal-combustion based mostly small automobiles.

He stated this dialogue was now happening inside Hyundai.

The small automobile and SUV/crossover segments, with their low margins, nonetheless rely closely on small gasoline-engine automobiles. Doable rivals to a small electrical car from Hyundai embrace the Peugeot 208 and Opel/Vauxhall Corsa small hatchbacks; the Peugeot 2008 and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka small SUVs; the approaching Renault 5 (2024); and future automobiles from the Volkswagen Group, together with small automobiles from VW model, Skoda and Cupra. 

On the Munich present, VW confirmed the ID Life idea, which previews a automobile that can be on sale in 2025 at a worth “probably round 20,000 euros ($23,650)” in Europe.

Schemera stated VW’s small automobile idea “is a yardstick for us.” Hyundai wants to have the ability to react rapidly, he stated, as a result of “we can not afford to consider actuality however push it to 4 years down the highway.” 

“If they provide automobiles on that scale for 20,000 euros, now we have to take a look and perhaps come shut or beat it,” he added. 

Requested if Hyundai could be able to supply such a automobile in 2025 at an identical worth, Schemera stated: “Possibly it will not take that lengthy.”